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In August, Ali Bongo, then-president of the Central African nation of Gabon, made a startling revelation to a top White House aide: During a meeting at his presidential palace, Bongo admitted he had secretly promised Chinese leader Xi Jinping that Beijing could station military forces on Gabon’s Atlantic Ocean coast. Alarmed, U.S. principal deputy national security adviser Jon Finer urged Bongo to retract the offer, according to an American national security official.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is reportedly setting his sights on a new frontier: the semiconductor industry. According to a Wall Street Journal report published on Thursday, Altman is engaged in conversations with investors, including those from the United Arab Emirates, to secure trillions in funding aimed at bolstering global production of chips specifically designed for AI technology. This initiative could require raising as much as $5 trillion to $7 trillion, as per the report.

Amit Shah on Saturday said that the Citizenship Amendment Act, which was passed by the Parliament in December 2019, will be notified and implemented before the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. «CAA is an Act of the country, it will be definitely be notified. It will be notified before the polls. CAA will be implemented by the polls, and there should be no confusion around it,» Shah said speaking at the ET Now-Global Business summit here in the national capital. «CAA was a promise of the Congress government. When the country was divided and the minorities were persecuted in those countries, Congress had assured the refugees that they were welcome in India and they will be provided with Indian citizenship. Now they are backtracking,» Shah said.

Jaishankar on Saturday said he is confident that the relevance of the Quad grouping would grow and it would become a bigger factor in the larger regional, and beyond the region, politics and policy. Jaishankar's remarks came during a fireside chat with his Australian counterpart Penny Wong at the Indian Ocean Conference. Jaishankar is here to attend the two-day conference. Speaking about the Quad or Quadrilateral Security Dialogue comprising India, the US, Japan and Australia, Jaishankar said the grouping is the outcome of the changing capabilities of the major powers and the implications that it has for all of the world.

UN experts say they are investigating 58 suspected North Korean cyberattacks between 2017 and 2023 valued at approximately USD 3 billion, with the money reportedly being used to help fund its development of weapons of mass destruction. And the high volume of cyberattacks by North Korean hacking groups who report to the Reconnaissance General Bureau, North Korea's primary foreign intelligence organization, is reportedly continuing, the panel of experts said in the executive summary of a new report to the UN Security Council obtained Friday by The Associated Press.

Moody's downgraded Israel's credit rating on Friday, citing material political and fiscal risks for the country from its war with the Palestinian militant group Hamas. The impact of the conflict raises political risk and weakens Israel's executive and legislative institutions, and its fiscal strength for the foreseeable future, said Moody's, which had begun the review for a downgrade on Oct. 19.

Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif changed tack Friday and said he would seek to form a coalition government after his party trailed independent candidates backed by his imprisoned rival, Imran Khan, in parliamentary election results. Sharif told supporters he was sending his brother and former premier, Shehbaz Sharif, to meet the leaders of other parties and invite them to join a coalition.

Gold rate today: On account of hawkish rhetoric from various US Fed officials and the resilience of the US dollar index on stimulus buzz ahead of the US presidential elections this year, gold prices continue to trade sideways for yet another week. In the week gone by, the gold futures contract on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) for April 2024 expiry ended at ₹62,303 per 10 gm level whereas in the international market, the precious yellow metal finished at $2,024 per ounce.

Nirmala Sitharaman tore into the previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government on Friday, saying it pushed the country into the Fragile Five and left it in dire straits in 2014 with its economic mismanagement by putting the «first family» first. During the UPA regime, the security of the nation was compromised, environmental clearances were delayed, and the leadership failed as it was run by a «super prime minister» and there was at least one big-ticket corruption case every year. Initiating the debate on the 'White paper on Indian economy and its impact on the lives of people of India', Sitharaman said it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who put the nation first, pulling the country out of crisis and placing it among the top five economies of the world.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie concerning their French winery, Chateau Miraval, has taken a decisive turn in Pitt's favor. Recent court filings reveal a significant victory for the actor as a judge ruled against Jolie's attempt to sell her business share to a competitor. This development sheds light on the ongoing complexities of their post-divorce relationship, providing insight into the challenges they face in dividing their multimillion-dollar assets.

It’s been years since insurance companies dangled buyout offers or contract exchanges to annuity owners – but MetLife is planning to do just that.

Mumbai: Paytm’s parent One 97 Communications Ltd on Friday said it has formed an advisory committee chaired by M. Damodaran, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). The committee will work with the One97 board on strengthening compliance and regulatory matters.

Dwayne Johnson's involvement in Moana 2 remains in the negotiation phase, casting uncertainty on his return as the beloved demigod Maui. While Disney unveiled plans for the animated sequel to the 2016 blockbuster Moana earlier this week, concrete details about the cast have yet to materialize. The purported talks with Johnson come amid fervent anticipation for the sequel, slated for a theatrical release later this year.

CERT-In has pinpointed vulnerabilities in Google Chrome OS that could potentially be exploited by remote attackers, allowing them to execute arbitrary code, attain elevated privileges, circumvent security restrictions, or induce denial of service conditions on impacted systems. The root causes of these vulnerabilities lie in a "use after free" flaw within the Side Panel Search feature and inadequate data validation in extensions.

Iran. New Delhi may see the attack as an opportunity to improve ties with Tehran and open a second front against Pakistan. That would be a mistake. India needs only to consider the aftermath of the October 7 terrorist attacks by Tehran-backed Hamas in Israel to realise this. That assault has led to a growing chain of military conflicts that negatively affect India's vital national interests in trade, energy and transport. Here's how Iran's actions and policies are undermining India's interests:

Scammers targeting institutions such as hospitals, schools and government offices for ransom pocketed $1.1 billion last year, compared with $567 million in 2022.

Ripple will have to reveal its financial statements from 2022-2023 in its case against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a Monday court filing revealed.

Attorneys for the family of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice want to block a Virginia bank from plans to auction off land at the governor’s posh resort

Following an exhaustive investigation, the Department of Labor has successfully obtained an emergency temporary restraining order against a Pittsburgh-based company that allegedly misappropriated millions of dollars from hundreds of retirement plans it had been entrusted to administer.

reported Business Line . This average annual return of 29.35 per cent in equities in the first week of February is more than triple the return of about 7.87 per cent seen in corporate bonds. It is even higher than the 9.61 per cent in government securities, about 11.43 per cent in Central and 11.39 per cent in State government schemes, data showed.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday reluctantly approved the first exchange-traded funds that hold bitcoin, saying it is still deeply sceptical about cryptocurrencies and that its decision did not mean it approves or endorses bitcoin.